Within this immense and beautiful world of ours, seafood is one of our most important, prolific and tasteful resources and delights. Seafood is not restricted to a single food source. Rather, there seems to be an endless number of different types of seafoods available and eaten throughout the world. Furthermore, the methods and recipes for cooking such delicacies are innumerable. It appears as though the only limitations to our enjoyment of such foods are those dictated by our own geographical and/or cultural barriers.
Some examples of the seafood oftentimes available in many large supermarkets, grocery stores and/or fish markets include: fish, such as salmon, trout, halibut, tuna, swordfish, sturgeon, cod, lingcod, flounder, sole, bass, sea bass, herring, sardine, alewife, butterfish, bluefish, buffalo, barracuda, bluefish, badquetta, bluenose, catfish, croaker, caviar, carp, chilean, cobia, croaker, drum, eel, flake, grouper, haddock, hake, hoki, john dory, jack, amberjack, jack cravelle and travalle, kingklip, mackerel, mullet, monkfish, mahi mahi, opah, ocean pout, orange roughy, opah or moonfish, pollock, perch, pike, papio, pompano, rockfish, sea bream, snapper, shad, snook, shark, tilapia, tilefish, tautog, hawaiian ta" ape, hawaiian ulua, whiting, walleye, whitefish, wolfish, wahoo, yellowtail; shellfish, such as abalone, clams, crabs, crawfish, crayfish, lobsters, prawns, mussels, scallops, shrimp and oysters; and other sea life like octopus, squid, cuttlefish, sea urchins, and the list could go on seemingly endlessly.
There are also a myriad of different ways to prepare and cook such seafood. For example, many seafoods can be barbecued, staked over an open fire, roasted, smoked, broiled, baked, boiled, steamed, kebabed, microwaved, sauteed, poached, pan-fried, oven-fried, deep-fried, pickled, chowdered, stewed, and placed in pies, sauses, sushi, quiche, salads, meat loafs, broths, pate, and in many more dishes.
One of the most popular and commonly used methods to prepare and cook fish, and particularly salmon, stealhead-trout, halibut, cobia and swordfish, is to barbeque. Prior to cooking, the fish is usually first cut into individual steaks or is filleted. When cut into steaks, the fish is cut across its girth in approximately one inch to two inch (1"-2") thick segments. In other words, the fish is cut perpendicularly or tangentially to its overall length to form a plurality of thick fish steaks. The corresponding portions of the outer skin, the abdominal membrane or lining, the backbone, the ribs, the pin bones, the lateral bones and/or the Y bones are usually left within each steak.
The fish steaks are then barbecued with the meat or flesh being placed directly upon the barbecue grill. If hot enough, the barbecue grill brands the meat or flesh along the lengths of each grill element to impart a traditional barbecued appearance, texture, and flavor to the fish.
Heretofore, the foregoing cooking methods had several significant disadvantages. Even though oysters and sardines are often eaten whole, in most cases, the seafood must be first gutted to remove the vitals and internal organs of the creature. The seafood is then usually cleaned prior to cooking and consumption. Even after the seafood is gutted and cleaned, the skin, abdominal membrane or lining, fins, backbone, rib bones, pin bones, Y bones, veins, antennae, legs, head, shells, etc., are often not removed until after the seafood is cooked and about to be eaten.
There are reasons for retaining these undesirable and inedible parts of the seafood until after the seafood is cooked and about to be eaten. The first reason is that the overall structure and appearance of the cooked seafood would be significantly damaged if such parts are removed. The second reason is that much of the edible meat is lost in the process of removing such parts prior to cooking. The third reason is that such parts often impart a unique, natural flavors and juices to the edible portions of the seafood during the cooking process. The fourth reason is that heretofore the current invention was unknown and unavailable for use.
In the case of cooking fish, each fish is usually surrounded or nearly surrounded by a segment of outer or exterior skin. The skin helps to keep the meat or flesh of the fish intact while cooking. Many times, this outer or exterior skin still has fish scales attached thereto. The abdominal cavity of the fish is naturally covered with a tissue-like membrane or lining. Each fish steak or fillet also has fish bones imbedded within its meat or flesh.
The bone structure can be specific for each of the various species of fish. For example, salmonoids have numerous very small pin bones that extend outwardly from each side of the vertebra, backbone, or spine. Jack mackerel have rows of tiny, shallow surface bones along the lateral strip on each side thereof. Northern pike, muskellunge, and pickerel have a row of Y-shaped bones that float just above the ribs. These Y bones run lengthwise along the fillet, ending above the fish vent.
Bone structure is not the only distinguishing feature between various species of fish. For example, monkfish have a silvery and very tough membrane between the outermost skin and the meat or flesh of the fish that should be removed prior to cooking. A knife and the cook's fingers are usually used to separate the silvery membrane from the meat. Because of its tapering shape, monkfish is difficult to pan fry unless it is sliced, preferably into three-eights-of-an-inch to three-quarters-of-an-inch (3/8" to 3/4") slanting slices, somewhat similar to a traditional fish steak.
Mussels and other shell fish frequently will have a beard or a plurality of attachment membranes that should be removed therefrom prior to cooking.
With crawfish, crayfish, shrimp and lobster, the vein or sand vein often cannot be removed therefrom until after the food is cooked. The stomach sac behind the head is usually not removed until after the lobster is cooked.
In nearly all instances prior to eating fish, the inedible and rather disgusting fish scales, outer or exterior skin, abdominal cavity membrane or lining, and all bones are removed from the meat. Heretofore, the removal of these inedible parts was a very difficult and time-consuming task.
If desired, a cook could run his or her fingers over the surface of a fish steak or fillet in an effort to locate the small, stiff pin bones imbedded within the meat. The discovered pin bones could then be plucked out using common pincers, tweezers, or a pair of needlenose pliers. More commonly, the pin bones are removed by the cook pinching the bones between the his or her thumb and a small knife blade held in the same hand and pulling the bones away from the meat with a twisting action.
The removal of such inedible parts of the fish preferably occurs when the fish is still very hot, immediately after the fish is removed from the heat source, such as from the barbeque or grill. This is also the same time when the fish is nearly too hot to touch or handle. Once removed from the heat source, the fish will cool very rapidly. When very hot, the inedible parts of the fish can usually be more easily and readily removed than after the fish is cooled and the meat and fat become more congealed and solid.
There is a very limited time period during which the fish can be served in a preferably hot or warm state. If removal of the inedible parts of the fish takes too much time, the fish meat becomes cold, congealed, more solid, and much less appetizing.
Some other problems with removing the inedible parts of a fish include: (a) being required to handle the fish when it is very hot and can burn a person's fingers and hands; (b) being required to hold and touch the cooked fish with the person's fingers in order to remove such inedible parts and, thereby, expose one's fingers and hands to fatty-tissue residue of the fish which very quickly cools, congeals, and becomes a sticky, uncomfortable, troublesome mess, which is difficult to remove and makes a mess of everything else that is touched; (c) it is almost impossible to locate and remove all of the small, nearly transparent, internal pin bones, lateral bones, and/or Y bones out of the fish before the meat has cooled below the preferable serving temperature; and (d) the removal of such small, nearly transparent, internal bones from the fish with traditional eating utensils significantly damages the structure of the fish and renders it nearly to a pile of mutilated fish meat. This later problem is particularly true when the fish is being served by a parent to his or her young child and removal of all fish bones is essential to prevent the child from choking on an undiscovered but swallowed fish bone.
Due to many of the foregoing problems, commercial establishments, such as restaurants, usually do not remove the small, nearly transparent, internal bones from fish and trust that the customer or patron will discover and remove them from their meal.
Establishments such as hospitals, clinics, retirement homes, daycare centers, restaurants, cafeterias, schools, etc., often elect to not serve fish to their patients, charges or customers due to the potential liability of serving fish with tiny bones therein. This is truly unfortunate considering the widely recognized enhanced food value found within fish.
An inexperienced person in these matters might suggest that such inedible parts of the fish should be removed prior to cooking. However, it is preferable to retain the fatty outer or exterior skin upon the fish to enhance the flavor of the fish during cooking, to keep the meat together, and to keep the meat from drying out during the cooking procedure. It would be nearly impossible to remove all of the bones from the fish and have the fish maintain its conventional shape, appearance, and structure during the cooking process.
Heretofore, persons used traditional eating utensils such as a table knife, fork and/or spoon in an effort to remove the inedible or at least the undesirable parts from the fish immediately before or during consumption of the fish.
The removed inedible or undesireable parts of the fish are generally left on the serving platter, the person's plate, or are placed upon a side dish, all of which are in plain open view of all person's within the vicinity. The appearance of such inedible or undesireable parts of the fish are not attractive. It is preferable that such inedible parts of the fish be removed prior to the fish being served to the consumer.
In an initial effort to address these problems, the current inventor created the devices shown and discussed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,534, which issued on Jun. 25, 1996.
It is firmly believed that the above-listed information, whether taken alone or in combination, neither anticipate nor render obvious the current invention. The foregoing explanation does not constitute an admission that such information or devices are relevant or material to the appended Claims. Rather, such information and devices relate only to the general field of the current disclosure and constitute the closest art of which the inventor is aware.